Monday, December 26, 2016

Twelve unsung 2016 titles that deserved more praise

This confession by a British Muslim girl who runs away with her best friend to join Daesh (the Arabic name for ISIS) is a novel, but it feels electrifyingly real. Jamilla and Ameena have grown up together in industrial Northern England, navigating between the precepts of Islam and the temptations of soccer players and cigarettes. Through Facebook and Twitter, they follow various preachers and Islamists; they meet young women around the world who share their religious interests. One of their contacts gradually persuades them to run away from home, join her in Syria and become jihadi brides. Every bit of illusion they have about the movement will be burned away as the disaster of this choice becomes clear.—MARION WINIK